Page 86 of Broken Bonds

And if I know her as well as I think I do, she must be on her way to Carrollton. Seeking refuge in what is known to her.

“Let’s go to Kentucky,” I order.

Josh lets out a heavy sigh before answering. “Listen, Lionel, I know that you think you’re right, but right now she can be anywhere. Even in Los Angeles, she might have left the airport or taken another flight to Europe, Cancun. To Timbuktu.”

No, none of those sounds like Stella.

“Don’t be ridiculous, she doesn’t have a passport.”

“You don’t know that,” he replies, and I realize it’s true. I don’t know for sure.

Miami even at dawn is just as I remembered it, warm and humid.

Stella’s absence gnaws at my insides like a persistent fire, fueled by the ache of missing her and the burning need to protect her from any harm. The thought of her dancing along the shoreline, her laughter ringing through the salty air, makes my heart clench with longing. She should be here, getting ready to live the best night of her life. But instead, she’s caught up in a dangerous web spun by lies.

I vow to myself that I will bring her back as soon as possible. Or better yet, find a secluded island where we can have the entire beach to ourselves. I just need an opportunity, a way to escape this suffocating sense of helplessness that consumes me.

“Either you get this damn plane off the ground right now and take me to Carrollton, or I’m getting on a commercial flight,” I demand, my patience worn thin.

I can’t bear another minute of waiting, doing nothing while Stella could be in danger. The mere thought ignites a fierce determination within me, one that can only be sated once I have her safely by my side again.

And when she is, I’ll make sure she never leaves my sight again.

But first, I have to find her before someone else does. “I have news,” Josh announces, his voice heavy with resignation.

My heart drops at his words. Please let it be good news.

“We found out who bought Stella’s ticket… and it’s not good,” he reveals grimly.

“What the fuck?” I growl in frustration. “Who was it?”

“It was your mother,” he answers reluctantly. “And she also got another ticket for someone named Carolina Lafayette… Stella must be on her way to her hometown.”

Damn it all. How could I have been so foolish? All those wasted hours when I knew deep down that Stella would run back to the only place she knows as home.

But it’s not her home anymore. She belongs with me, and I swear I will do whatever it takes to bring her back to where her real home is.

Stella is mine, just as much as I am hers. And once we find our way back to each other, I’ll make sure my mother never threatens our happiness again.

It’s my life, it’s been a long time since I stopped being that small child who needs to be led by the hand.

The plane landed at Louisville in the hot afternoon sun, but we had wasted precious hours sorting out the logistics of our flight. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there was a major crash on Route 71—the highway connecting Louisville to Carrollton. We were stuck for hours, making our already delayed arrival even later. By the time we finally reached town, the sun had long since set and hunger gnawed at my stomach. I could only imagine what kind of hellish day she must have been having.

When the driver pulled up to a rundown cottage that looked like it hadn’t been touched in fifty years, I knew this was the place. The darkness cloaking everything made it seem abandoned - no lights, no movement. But I didn’t care about safety risks anymore. They had promised me an operative to safely rescue her.

Impatiently, I leapt out of the SUV before Josh could even open the door, ignoring his hand on my arm trying to stop me. “Wait, Simba,” he warned. “She could be in danger and acting recklessly is only going to make things worse. Let us handle this our way.”

Our way. Those words grated on my nerves as I had been following their damn instructions for hours with nothing to show for it. Speaking through gadgets attached to their sleeves and ears like some goddamn secret service agents, they slowly approached the house - two entering through the front while two others flanked around back.

“Everything’s clear,” Josh reported back to me. “We can go in.”

Stepping foot into the home they once shared together was like a punch to the gut. The lights were on now and I could see that someone had definitely been here. On the coffee table sat a notebook filled with her familiar handwriting. As I read through her notes from the past few months, regret and guilt washed over me. My smart girl had documented every event, leaving me with the realization that I should have listened to her and trusted her from the beginning. If only I had reached out to her sooner, maybe this mess could have been resolved by now. But there was no time for what-ifs now. She needed me and I would do whatever it takes to make things right again.

My eyes continue to scan the space. The house is old and urgently needs maintenance, but it is very clean. Other than the photo from a shattered frame that is on the floor.

It can’t be, someone else was here. Someone got to her first before we did.

Cold sweat runs down my back. Stella is in danger.

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